Hello, and welcome back! Much of our lovely snow is melting--and by the time it gets cold again over the weekend, even more will have melted under exceptionally warm temps and a little rain. I'm not, however, giving up on my dream of more winter. After all, I have a huge stock of tea and hot chocolate to deplete before spring arrives, darn it. In the meantime, I'm working my way through the stack of books here on the desk (and working out an idea for a new manuscript of my own while I wait to hear from the agents looking at material currently). I have two to share with you today.

Fangs but No Fangs (Brava) by Kathy Love is the last of the February releases here. Christian Young is working hard at not being a vampire anymore, and coming to the rescue of his pretty neighbor Jolee Dugan makes him rethink the solitary nature of his plans. Not your typical vampire romance, the focus of this one isn't so much on the blood-suckers of some other recent series, but on Christian's all-too-human feelings growing for Jolee. It's funny and cute, with some definite heat between this pair. I enjoyed this one a lot. It's earned three and a half of Cupid's five arrows. This is one vampire romance I can definitely recommend to readers.

Lover Eternal: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (Signet Eclipse) by J. R. Ward, on the other hand, is not. This is the second book in the 'Black Dagger Brotherhood' series, featuring Rhage, nastiest of the bunch, and his soon-to-be-mate Mary Luce. Then again, perhaps Rhage isn't the worst of the group, considering the violent scene where he's punished by his 'brothers' part-way into the tale. Aside from the things that turned me off the first one--the glossary in the very beginning of the book, the too-cute spellings of the names of the vampires--which this one still suffers from, this one is even darker, if that's possible. This one is a vampire romance I can't recommend to anyone.